Top Running Stores In The Denver Area
Boulder Running Company
2775 Pearl Street
Boulder, CO 80302
(303) 786-9255
boulderrunningcompany.com
This shop, the first of the four Boulder Running Company shops in Colorado, was named the top running store in the country in 2006. It's also one of the largest, offering an enormous shoe wall and loads of performance apparel and accessories, plus lots of casual clothes and footwear options, too. Known world-wide, Johnny Halberstadt (the NCAA 10,000-meter champion in 1972) and Mark Plaatjes (the 2003 world champion marathoner) are as knowledgeable as anyone in the business. (Plaatjes is also a world-renown physical therapist whose practice, InMotion Rehabilitation, is conveniently located upstairs.) Other BRC shops in Greenwood Village, Littleton and Colorado Springs aren't as large but have more of a mom and pop charm.
Runner's Roost, Lakewood
7978 West Alameda Avenue # A
Lakewood, CO 80226-3086
(303) 991-1851
runnersroostlakewood.com
The closest running shop to the great trail systems in Golden, Morrison and Lakewood, this one-stop shop has everything you need as you venture out. Although it carries the Runner's Roost name that has been synonymous with good running shops on the Front Range for decades (there are six between Lone Tree and Fort Collins), it's an independently owned and operated store and proprietor Sonya Estes puts great value on customer service, personal attention and proper shoe fitting. The store hosts casual group runs every Wednesday evening and occasionally has inspirational in-store events.
Road Runner Sports
10436 Town Center Drive, Suite 300
Westminster, CO 80021
(303) 465-6022
roadrunnersports.com
This is a chain store that's tied to the world's largest online and catalog running business and it kind of has a strip mall feel about it compared to other shops listed here. But it has a huge selection of shoes, running clothes and accessories, offers great prices, and it's only a hop, skip and a jump from Big Dry Creek Trail that runs through the heart of Westminster. It also hosts foot pain clinics on the third Thursday of every month.
- Brian Metzler is a Boulder-based freelance journalist and senior editor for Running Times magazine and the founding editor of Trail Runner magazine. He has run races from 50 yards to 100 miles and has tested more than 700 pairs of running shoes in the past 12 years. He is the author of "Running Colorado's Front Range" and the co-author of "Natural Running."
